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In 1990 The Benny Hill Show was airing in reruns in 97 countries around the world--but not in Great Britain where it had originated. The scourge of political correctness had forced Thames Television to end its association with Hill in 1989 after 20 successful years. Thames defended the move by saying Hill's periodic specials were becoming too costly, viewership was down, and the 65-year-old Hill was looking tired. However, by the late 1980s it was becoming unfashionable for Hill's sexually charged farcical comedy skits to be shown on British TV. (One anti-Hill crusader wildly blamed The Benny Hill Show for all the sexual assaults in the UK!) Hill did not need the money, but he did miss being on TV. He had open offers to appear in Las Vegas and name his price, but Hill did not want to make the journey overseas. Hill was a true loner who never married and was not known to have had a long-term relationship with anyone. The few friends he had said his dismissal by Thames was akin to handing Hill a death sentence. With assets worth more than 7.5 million British pounds, Hill was a bit of a miser. He never owned a car, he did his own shopping, and he lived in a very modest flat. He was also a slob. His flat was usually filled with dirty dishes, papers strewn everywhere, and dirty clothes on the floor. A friend once asked him why he threw his clothes on the floor. "Because they won't stick to the ceiling!" was his pithy answer. In February 1992, the 68-year-old Hill suffered mild heart attack. He was ordered to go on a diet. Two months later he died of another heart attack while sitting in a favorite chair in front of his television. His body was not discovered for three days. Hill's will had not been updated since 1961. The will's beneficiaries (his parents and his sister) had already died. The comedian's vast fortune was eventually split among nieces and nephews whom Hill had barely known. Among those who considered Benny Hill a comic genius were people as diverse as Charlie Chaplin, Michael Jackson and Walter Cronkite! Tags:BennyHilldeathdeclinecomedyUKAdded: 29th October 2014Views: 1684Rating:Posted By:Lava1964

The summer Olympics used to include standing jumping events: long jump, high jump and triple jump. Here's a film clip of the standing long jump competition from the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. The 1912 Games were the last Olympics to feature standing jump disciplines. Norway is the last remaining country to feature them in their own national athletics championships. The United States Air Force Academy and Canada's Royal Military College still use the standing long jump as a way to gauge the physical fitness levels of their students. Tags:1912OlympicsstandinglongjumpAdded: 9th November 2014Views: 616Rating:Posted By:Lava1964

The Seventies rockers made an appearance on a two-part episode of the series in which the kids are forced to record a performance by the band at their high school. The performance includes the classic "Taking It to The Streets." Tags:TVAdded: 4th December 2014Views: 966Rating:Posted By:WestVirginiaRebel

On Tuesday, July 4, 1950, while awaiting the start of a Brooklyn Dodgers-New York Giants holiday doubleheader at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan, 53-year-old Barney Doyle was killed from a bullet to the head. Doyle, a passionate Giants fan from New Jersey, had come to the sold-out event with his 13-year-old neighbor, Otto Flaig, who had been eagerly awaiting the trip to the Polo Grounds for weeks. Just as the teams entered the field, Doyle turned to speak to his youthful companion and then suddenly slumped over. Fans seated nearby thought Doyle had merely fainted, but quickly realized the situation was far more serious when they saw blood pouring from a severe head wound. Police later discovered that a 14-year-old boy, Robert Peebles, at a nearby housing project on Coogan's Bluff had fired the shot indiscriminately over a five-foot parapet to celebrate the Fourth of July. He had found the .45-caliber gun in Central Park. Newspapers also reported that fans who had bought standing-room passes for the sold-out doubleheader callously fought over Doyle's vacated seat. Because of his age, Peebles shockingly could only receive a juvenile delinquency charge. Doyle had recently been forced to retire from his job due to health concerns; attending ballgames had become one of the few outings he was permitted to do. The photo below ran in the next day's New York Daily News. (If anybody cares, the Giants and Dodgers split that day's doubleheader.) Tags:BarneyDoyleMurderPoloGroundsbaseballAdded: 6th March 2015Views: 1920Rating:Posted By:Lava1964

On May 17, 1995, residents of San Diego, CA had their lives and property imperiled by an M-60 Patton tank! The armored vehicle had been stolen from a military base by Shawn Timothy Nelson, a 35-year-old former veteran who was known to have mental stability issues. As this Discovery Network feature shows, for a while law enforcement had absolutely no way to stop the devastating rampage--until Nelson inadvertently disabled the tank himself on a concrete highway median. Police theorize Nelson was on his way to create havoc at a local hospital that he had recently unsuccessfully sued for malpractice. Tags:tanktheftrampageSanDiegoShawnNelsonAdded: 16th March 2015Views: 808Rating:Posted By:Lava1964

Proving that words often dramatically change meaning over time, here's another curiously titled book: Fellow Fags. This 1933 British youth novel--aimed to reinforce Christian principles!--is about underclassmen in a school who were required to perform menial tasks for older students as part of a hazing ritual. (That's what fag meant at the time in Great Britain. Really!) Tags:FellowFagsBritishyouthnovelAdded: 10th April 2015Views: 1064Rating:Posted By:Lava1964

One of the dirtiest sports events ever to take place was a 1962 World Cup match between Chile and Italy. This BBC clip shows how out-of-control the situation became. On May 22, 1960 Chile was rocked with a devastating earthquake that measured 9.5 on the Richter scale. At the same time the earthquake struck, Chile had been lobbying FIFA to host the 1962 World Cup. Despite the enormous tragedy--and perhaps because of it--FIFA was persuaded by an emotional appeal by the Chilean organizers and won the right to host the tournament. Several Italian journalists criticized Chile's ability to host such an important event. They went too far by insulting everything to do with the South American country, including the virtue of its women. All Italians became hated in Chile. The journalists were forced to flee the country. An Argentinian reporter, mistaken for an Italian, was severely beaten by a mob. Of course Italy and Chile were drawn into the same group so they had to play one another in Santiago on June 2. In presenting recorded match highlights for the UK, BBC reporter David Coleman minces no words about the brutal spectacle that occurred that day. Tags:soccerWorldCup1962ItalyChileBattleofSantiagoAdded: 16th April 2015Views: 676Rating:Posted By:Lava1964